First time row @ 7:15

[Gilbert]

Hi,
Was rowing for my first time today ever (used a concept2 machine at my local gym), didn't plan to push through a 2k at full effort but after a 2k warm-up I decided to go for it anyway. Ended up with a time of 7:15.5 and have no clue if it's good or not.

Some background; 23y old, 183cm tall (6'0''), 73kg heavy (161 lbs) - I'm a former swimmer but stopped swimming after the summer of 2013 and since spring of 2014 I have barely done any workouts whatsoever. An occasional 30min swim every 3-4 weeks, no gym, no running.
However the past 2 weeks up to this point I've done 4 run sessions @ 20 minutes each and 1 gym workout for my lower body. Never maxed any leg exercises at a gym except from deadlift (back/legs?) at 100kg (220lbs). Other than that I've worked with at most 60kg (132lbs) on deep squats (only 5 reps). All of the lifting was 2.5 years ago.

It was quite the fun to row I must say, will pick it up for a while and see where it goes!

Cheers

[Carl Watts]

Sounds like a pretty good first time effort to me, keep it up.

I wouldn't go comparing yourself to others on the rankings board as yet, not on a first time out. If you keep it up some training for 3 months or more you should be able to break the magic 7 minute mark.

[Bob S.]

Very good, indeed, especially for a first time row on an indoor rowing machine. However, rowing, even on an indoor machine is a lot more complicated than it looks and most beginners can benefit a lot from working on the most efficient technique. It is also important to learn about damper setting and drag factor. All of these items are available in detail from the C2 website. It is worth navigating through it and studying it in order to maximize your potential. One especially useful section under technique is about common technique errors and correcting them. It helps a lot to get started using proper form right at the beginning, since it is very hard to get rid of bad habits once they are engrained.

[jackarabit]

Curious why you chose 2K distance as your first row excepting a warmup of same length? Obviously you fiddled a bit with the Performance monitor. Did you happen upon the 2000 preset on the "standard workouts" screen? Familiar distance to a swimmer? Most newbys choose "Just Row" or 5 minutes and typically think the machine doesn't "provide adequate resistance." You appear to have arrived as a duck to water and waded right in. Enjoy!

[Galeere]

IMO 7:15 is very good for a first. Plenty possibilities to improve (technique, damper setting, stamina, muscles). With your swimming you have a good starting point as it probably provided you with an above average lung volume.I once read that among athletes the biggest lung volumes are those of rowers, followed by swimmers; can´t find a study regarding that matter right now though. Have fun and keep it up.

[hjs]

Hi,
Was rowing for my first time today ever (used a concept2 machine at my local gym), didn't plan to push through a 2k at full effort but after a 2k warm-up I decided to go for it anyway. Ended up with a time of 7:15.5 and have no clue if it's good or not.

Some background; 23y old, 183cm tall (6'0''), 73kg heavy (161 lbs) - I'm a former swimmer but stopped swimming after the summer of 2013 and since spring of 2014 I have barely done any workouts whatsoever. An occasional 30min swim every 3-4 weeks, no gym, no running.
However the past 2 weeks up to this point I've done 4 run sessions @ 20 minutes each and 1 gym workout for my lower body. Never maxed any leg exercises at a gym except from deadlift (back/legs?) at 100kg (220lbs). Other than that I've worked with at most 60kg (132lbs) on deep squats (only 5 reps). All of the lifting was 2.5 years ago.

It was quite the fun to row I must say, will pick it up for a while and see where it goes!

Cheers

Some general remarks. Rowers often improve rapidly the first 3/6 months. After that improvement will slow down a lot.
With 73 kg you are a lightweight, 75 is the cut off. Rowers in general are tall and relative big.
You did well, if you want to erg more, otw rowing is very different. You proberly will get below 7 min pretty soon. Erging is mostly and endurance sport. So if you like 2k, focus on getting fitter. 5k is a good benchmark to improve.
Make sure you use a good full stroke, do not use a high damper. 3/4 is plenty. Search for dragfactor.

Wr for lightweights is 5.56, below 6.15 is worldclass. This record stands out a lot.

Wr for heavyweights is 5.36, below 5.50 is worldclass. Rowers are much more heavyweights, times are more dence here.

[Gilbert]

Curious why you chose 2K distance as your first row excepting a warmup of same length? Obviously you fiddled a bit with the Performance monitor. Did you happen upon the 2000 preset on the "standard workouts" screen? Familiar distance to a swimmer? Most newbys choose "Just Row" or 5 minutes and typically think the machine doesn't "provide adequate resistance." You appear to have arrived as a duck to water and waded right in. Enjoy!

A friend of mine is familiar with rowing, asked him for a casual test on the rowing machine and he recommended 2k. Started off with warming up for the same distance in the initital "just row"-mode then I couldn't hold myself going all-out when I found the 2k preset test after I played with the menu. Felt amazing in a good way to have done it afterwards.

Thanks everyone for the kind tips, drag factor and damper settings are new things for me, I'll put some reading into that. I will definitely take a deeper look into technique, efficiency and form, maybe even get someone experienced in rowing to look at me.
I watched the following video before my first time yesterday, not sure how good it is though:
https://youtu.be/eqVmMd7FdAA
Felt like it helped me out by having some key points to focus on (I like to watch and learn before I try).

My first row certainly gave me a taste for more, will visit these forums frequently to learn and improve.

[hjs]

That video is a super example.

[Bob S.]

One of the very best. An excellent choice!

[paule23]

I hate you. 7.15 on your first row! Arghhhhhhhhhhh

[Eric308]

Nice work, Gilbert! That's a great initial time. Better than I've ever done (7:23), but my excuse is that I'm almost 70. I totally agree with all the comments about technique, drag factor, and damper setting. I've been going to the same gym for almost 20 years and have only seen a handful of members use the Concept2 properly. I can always count on the damper setting to be left on 10 when I arrive every morning. That first video is excellent as mentioned. Here's another good one that describes proper damper settings and drag factors. Keep up the good work and you'll be busting 7 in no time! Just a note....check out the rowers in the background of the video to see some really horrible technique.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTXV3W3_Nig

[Bob S.]

Just a note....check out the rowers in the background of the video to see some really horrible technique.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTXV3W3_Nig

Choice! Hands in the lap, up over the knees, and back down to the toes - reverse on the recovery. One of the cliches in rowing is moving your hands as if they were on a table top.For the guy in the video background, the table top has been replaced by a hula hoop. I have seen a lot of roller coaster hand movement on ergs, but this one hits the max.

[Gilbert]

Just a note....check out the rowers in the background of the video to see some really horrible technique.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTXV3W3_Nig

That sure is horrible, I rowed my second session the other day and had a person rowing next to me that was using an awkard style. He made a big circle motion, even worse than them. Thank you for the video, it was very educational. I seem to have adapted naturally to the table-top kind of motion, doing it some other way would just feel wrong. Tomorrow I'll jump on my 3rd session, even though I just started rowing I am already falling in love.